CPR Saves Lives

 This week had been really great! We had our zone conference on Tuesday and it was really good. Usually I come out of them feeling super chastised and drained. However, we came out of this one ready to work and get down to business-which is exactly what we did. We went to teach Alondra again and we really focused on short, powerful lessons in zone conference so we just went for it. We taught her a super solid restoration and she was loving it! We invited her to be baptized and she said that she wants to, but she wants her husband to do it with her and he is still in Mexico because he doesn't  have papers. They haven't been together for almost 7 months :( I thought that was adorable and we offered to send missionaries to his house in Mexico. She said she would talk with him first. We were super excited! We went over to teach her again yesterday because she missed our appointment. We decided to go for the Plan of Salvation because she has two little kids. She liked it but she liked the ideas that we could be together forever a lot. We gave her a picture of the temple and then bore testimony about eternal families and you could tell that she was feeling the Spirit and she had this "familiar" look in her eye. She proceeded to tell us that she really liked the plan and that it is different than her beliefs (yes...we knew that). She mentioned something about being reincarnated 106 times and then going to a final resting place...a little interesting so we will see how it goes. I'm not sure she fully understands the Book of Mormon so we're working on that as well.

     We also had exchanges this week and Hermana Cardullo came down to spend the day with me while Hermana Dando spent the day in Lodi with the one and only Hermana Hanson. We both had a really great time and learned some new things that we have been trying to put into practice lately. I have a hard time talking to everyone so Hermana Cardullo really helped me with that. We talked to SO many people! I'm usually snobby because I teach in Spanish-therefore I only want to talk to Hispanic people, but I learned that even the white people can help you out and they need God too :) We were tracting in an apartment complex that is loaded with Hispanics and we ran into a lady that Hermana Cardullo taught a year ago when she served in Stockton named Margarita. She is married and has 2 boys: Juan and Imar. They are from El Salvador. Juan is a senior and he doesn't speak hardly any English. Imar is a sophomore and he can understand it, but isn't so hot at speaking (I feel ya...). They are the most adorable family ever! We have an appointment with them tonight and I am really excited about that!

     We visited Antonia and she is doing well. She is older and is a little crazy. We were over there on Saturday and we were going to drop her and then we just started talking about baptism and church and she said that when she came to church that she felt a very special feeling and she knows that we have something different. She said that she wanted to be baptized! um...OKAY! She was going to come to church on Sunday but, as luck would have it, she twisted her ankle after we left and couldn't even stand up. She's a little gordita so there was no way she could have made it. We went over this morning and she is still really excited about us teaching her. A ver...

     We received a referral from some elders in Lodi for a woman that was already a member named Lupe. We went to visit her and it turns out that she and her husband (gringo) just moved back from Arkansas and she was the Relief Society President there. Funny, because they moved here in December and we've never met her...whatevs...no judgement. She is the best thing ever! We went over to eat with her and her husband and her daughter who lives in Lodi and is inactive. They are the CUTEST! I love her so much! She is still deciding if she wants to go to the Spanish ward or the English ward because she really wants her husband to join the church but he doesn't understand a drop of Spanish. But, bless his heart, he still comes with her once in a while.

     Erik has been a little pain this week, but we still love him a ton! We have really been pushing church attendance, prayer, and reading the scriptures with him (CPR saves lives). He couldn't come to church yesterday because it was his brother's girldfriend's baby shower and he had to go to the park and "save their spot." Yeah...lame. We were begging his mom to let him come but she said no. Yeah...we were not happy campers about that. Mother does not, in fact, always know best.

Love always, Hermana Freestone

1. mother's day with my misison mom and Hermana

2. north stockton zone REPRESENT

3. Elder Villalva's first s'more